Electronic point of sale (POS) terminals are ubiquitous in stores, and especially so in large franchise operations. These terminals have replaced cash registers because of their data gathering capabilities in addition to their cash accounting capabilities. Such data typically include the identification of the store and location of the POS terminal, the identity of the cashier, the price and identification of the items sold, and the date and time of the sale. POS terminals are frequently connected to an inventory control system which is used to track goods and reorder inventory when necessary.
Many applications have been developed to process and analyze the data gathered via POS terminals. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,077 (Beach et al.) discloses a system that monitors and processes the raw data collected by POS terminals.
Some systems monitor and reward the performance of the sales personnel. For example, U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US 2002/0123925 (Smith) discloses a business method and system for rewarding call center agents using an automated call distribution center. Others provide performance feedback to the manager or to individual employees, such as is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US 2002/0178048 (Huffman).